Cottage Street work may slow business

NORWAY — A project to renovate the sewer system, water lines, and sidewalks on Cottage Street in Norway has some business owners a little concerned about their summer business.

Jason Cyr owns the building at 7 Cottage Street that houses his business, Don's Redemption Center, and his wife's, Lisanna's Hair Salon. He is worried that he may not be able to open every day during his busy summer months due to roadwork that will shut Cottage Street down to everything but local traffic.

"I don't really know how it's going to affect us. I'm hoping it's not, but you never know," said Cyr. "There will be days when I won't be able to be open."

He says that Don's Redemption does most of its business in the summer months when the road work will be taking place.

"We're coming off a really tough winter, and usually April and May are really good months," said Cyr. He estimates that he does almost twice as much business per day in the spring and summer than he does over the winter. He hopes that the work, which will start by Main Street near Don's and continue up to Beal Street, will be done as soon as possible.

Agren Appliance, located on Main Street, will also need to adapt to the changes. Marketing Manager Paul Baribault says that their delivery trucks usually drive down Cottage Street and turn onto Temple Street behind the building to drop off goods.

Baribault says that Agren has worked out a deal to utilize the u-shaped driveway at the Masonic Hall on Temple as a turn-around for the trucks. He says smaller trucks coming from Agren's normal appliance supplier will have less of a problem using the driveway than larger Siemens and Ashley Furniture trailer trucks that drop off mattresses and furniture.

"It's not optimal because it's really tight," said Baribault. "It will be tougher for the Siemens and Ashley trucks because they're bigger than the others."

The work is scheduled to start this weekend, says Water Superintendent Ryan Lippincott, but may be delayed due to frost.

Lippincott says that the contractors, who will need to dig 6 feet under the street to install new water lines, will break ground this weekend, but will have to make sure that the ground is not frozen before they start work. Frozen ground would delay the start time, as it makes the process of backfilling the holes more difficult and costly.

"You have to compact the ground before you backfill, and you can't compact frozen ground," said Lippincott. "Plus, it's tough to dig through frost."

He says the street will be open to only local traffic while the work is ongoing.

Cyr made it clear that he is happy that Cottage Street is being fixed, and recognizes that the short term concerns do not outweigh the project's overall benefit. He cited problems with the street, including the quality of the sidewalks and occasional spring flooding.

"I'm really excited about it," said Cyr. "It definitely needs to be done."